Congratulations

In January, when I returned to the halls of the California Capitol, I was prepared to join my colleagues in another legislative session with the backing of a vigorous economy and record-level revenue. Then the COVID-19 pandemic began its wildfire-like spread through every corner of our state. Practically overnight, the pandemic radically shifted the lives of every Californian, and significantly altered my focus as your representative.

Within weeks, millions of Californians lost their jobs as businesses were ordered to close to prevent the spread of the virus. Now, the Employment Development Department (EDD), a once relatively obscure part of our state’s executive branch, has become a towering and exceedingly frustrating facet of millions of Californians’ daily lives.

EDD has processed over five million claims this year. Millions of these cases have been processed without major problems. However, there are a startling number of claims that have never been responded to, apparently lost in the shuffle of the millions being processed simultaneously through an antiquated system.

Since the beginning of the crisis, my office has had people from every walk of life reach out to us for help with unemployment claims that have gone awry – entertainment industry professionals, restaurant servers, business owners, travel agents, therapists and even silversmiths. We have helped hundreds of constituents navigate the notoriously complex and glitch riddled EDD bureaucracy. Many of our constituents are weeks or days away from financial ruin.

The problems are many: people can’t reach EDD staff over the phone, mysterious errors prevent people from reporting wages and then there’s mail and information that is never received, just to name a few. Among the most egregious problems with the department is what my office is calling the “identity verification black hole.” This is when EDD demands claimants send documents within 10 days verifying their identity, only to disqualify them because it takes the department longer than 10 days to process the response.

A constituent submitted his identity paperwork only to receive a letter from EDD one month later stating that he was disqualified for failing to respond to EDD’s original request for documents. He appealed the disqualification and then had to wait weeks for his payments to come through. He contacted us in early May and it took until the end of June to resolve his case, including having to go through the appeals process. 

As I write this, we are working with a professional photographer who applied for benefits in March. Her payments are still pending after EDD lost her application. Her entire life’s work is being held for ransom by a storage company because she cannot afford the rent. They are threatening to auction off the contents of her unit. She cannot pay the $657 she owes the storage company to save decades of her work, even though EDD appears to owe her thousands of dollars in benefits.

These constituents are hard-working, creative, dedicated people who I consider myself lucky to represent. They contribute to society, pay their taxes, enrich our community and are being left completely high-and-dry by an agency that doesn’t seem to know that they exist. I have run out of patience with EDD’s incompetence.

I’ve reached out directly to the governor and California’s Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Julie Su, and I’ve joined my colleagues in pushing for these issues to be resolved. Recently, I wrote another letter to the governor urging the administration to solve the identity verification black hole plaguing my constituents. 

My request to Gov. Newsom is that EDD must immediately and without delay grant benefits to individuals who are waiting, through no fault of their own, for benefits that are pending because of identity verification. This is a humanitarian crisis.

I’ve also spent the last few months personally calling constituents who are facing issues with EDD, helping ensure my staff has the resources and information they need to help as many of our constituents as possible, and continuing to lobby the administration to fix this. But there’s only so far that any legislator can go unless big structural changes take place.

The state must audit the entire EDD to better understand the core issues. But an audit will not fix the immediate urgent needs of my constituents. They need help now. 

You can rely on my office to try and help if you need it. For anyone who is struggling with EDD, or any other state issue, I urge you to reach out to us. We are here and we are ready to do what we can to help.

In a crisis leadership is crucial and there is no duty more important to an elected leader than to serve those they represent.

If you or someone you know requires help, or if you have an idea or question, please reach out to me with any comments, questions, or concerns through my District Office at (818) 558-3043 or Assemblymember.Friedman@Assembly.ca.gov.